I was hoping for some help. I am a retail store manager who is a freelance travel writer. I will be ready to quit my job in the spring and start traveling. I'm interested in teaching English in Italy. I have a bachelor's degree in Business management, but no teaching certification. My questions are:

1. For teaching in Italy, which is best: TEFL, TESOL or CELTA?...I'm so confused

2. I have the ability to take the classes online. Is it better to try to enroll in a school and get my certification in Italy, or just train online?

3. Has anyone used Bridge-Linguatec? Their information was pretty good...but there are so many websites.

Italy basically requires a degree plus cert. An online one is ok but for entry level positions.

I would personally avoid schools which give GUARANTEED job placement since this means that they are promising to find work for even the most incompetant fool and to do that they must be willing to offer appalling jobs at schools which don't care and probably don't pay.

If you want a training school which offers job placements as well then look for one which gives conditional job placements to "the right candidate" or something like that.

Thanks for your reply. Do you know of any schools like this? I've done hours of research, and I can't determine wbich ones are fraud, and which ones are the real deal. Is it better to just go to Italy and try to get my certification while I'm there? Are there schools that offer this?

For online you could take a look at ICAL (http://www.teacher-training.net) which is reputable and will help find work but, as their blurb puts it, "for suitable candidates".

There are certainly some schools which offer courses in Italy itself but I don't know them so can't recommend any.

Of course the best way would be to contact the schools in Italy and ask them if they've got work and what qualifications are acceptable to them. The bottom line is that they're doing the hiring so they decide what they need.

Thanks again for the help. I was hoping to do the certification online because it would be cheaper for me. Do you know of a good resource to find schools in Italy? Having trouble with that one too. Sorry about all the questions. I take it you're a teacher yourself....how did you get started?

Thank you so much for the information...this is the most concrete answer I've gotten so far. I think I will start with the website you gave me. It may just be a matter of me going over there and finding something. So you recommed the TEFL?

From your location I'm guessing you're American in which case the biggest problem may be getting a visa. A school is unlikely to sponsor or help you without actually meeting you in person and seeing that you're worth the effort.

What you could do is get over to Italy, work illegally for a while in a school (getting the job by pounding the streets) and show the school that you're worth helping out.

Then they might well help with the visa.

In this case you're going to need a few extra dollars stashed away so you can live there till the job is found.

There are TEFL schools in Florence and Rome. you might not need the certificate though. Many high schools look for native speakers for the hour of English conversation. There are also a number of smaller private schools that might be willing to let you teach without the TEFL certificate. If you choose to do a bit of job hunting when you first arrive, go to the questura (visa office) and request a visa °attesa di lavoro.° I ve had this type of visa. Its easy to obtain and permits you look for work and not worry about breaking any laws. if you need help or have any other questions, my email is vcbpg@libero.it

I have read through your posts and am in a similar situation in terms of
wanting to move to Italy to teach English, and trying to find reliable information online...there's so much, it's confusing.
I'm trying to figure out which certificate (if any) is necessary, and
through which organization to acquire it. I see these posts were from some
time ago...did you have any luck, and can you offer any advice?

-Chandra

I was hoping for some help. I am a retail store manager who is a freelance travel writer. I will be ready to quit my job in the spring and start traveling. I'm interested in teaching English in Italy. I have a bachelor's degree in Business management, but no teaching certification. My questions are:

1. For teaching in Italy, which is best: TEFL, TESOL or CELTA?...I'm so confused

2. I have the ability to take the classes online. Is it better to try to enroll in a school and get my certification in Italy, or just train online?

3. Has anyone used Bridge-Linguatec? Their information was pretty good...but there are so many websites.

I think the biggest obstacle will be the fact that you are American (I'm assuming you're American?), as HenryTeach also suggested. Not many schools in the EU recruit non-EU citizens, simply because it is so much easier for them to recruit EU citizens, in terms of paperwork. That is not to say that it is impossible - if you are in Italy and can meet with employers face to face, your chances will improve greatly, although of course there is a financial risk in this. Many Americans, as HenryTeach said, work illegally at first (although I'm not condoning this).

You will certainly need a qualification - the most internationally recognised and accepted are the Cambridge CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL. These are 120 hour, classroom based courses and include some teaching practice as part of the assessment. There are several other good quality courses of similar length and content too. Generally speaking, the shorter and less classroom-based your course, the more limited your employment options will be.